So tired of being made to come into into the office

[cofingalthetime]

So I'm in the office today - everyone else either on leave or working from home. I think I'm one of the only people in the building. I wish I was at home too - it's really hot and uncomfortable here, I'm not getting anything done, and literally nobody to even talk to. I don't see the point of being here.

Management refuse to listen - all working from home themselves. As a colleague said during the week "we are here to "guard the office". Guard it from what? or for whom

Very frustrating. Am literally staring at the clock every 5 mins.

Is there a rota? What’s the official WFH policy?

Wouldn't it make more sense for management to arrange it so the team are all in same days of the week?

Is there really nothing for you to do except sit there? You have no set tasks? You are there simply to be a presence in the building?

Then I'd bring in home admin work and my own laptop and sort out everyday stuff I'd otherwise have to do at home. Organise birthday cards and gifts for everyone for the next year, bring in knitting, sewing, a good book or whatever. Line up supermarket deliveries. Do an online course that will help you get a better job. There's no need to be bored and watching the clock.

I do have work I can do but I'm feeling really rotten - got about 1 hour's sleep -am having awful insomnia due to menopause. When I'm wfh I look forward to a little lunchtime nap, and have my fan on, and a shady room to work in.

Yeah we are told to come in 3 out of 5 days, there is a rota, but I guess I pulled the short straw of being in on my own. Lots of people seem to be taking annual leave on fridays. Then they only have to come in 2 days.

Yea me and the security guy downstairs. That's all I've seen today.

I would go home, but I can't I guess, just in case someone sees the office is dark. If there were other people in at least there would be a bit of chit chat.

we raised it with management, that the sector I'm in is extremely quiet for the next 8 weeks or so, and asked could we come in less, or just close the office, but they won't agree to anything except 9-5 on site 3 days a week. They haven't even been in themselves to see how quiet it is.

Policies like this just for the sake of it are ridiculous. I would be looking to leave. There is absolutely no point in you being there, and it sounds like you would work much better at home.

I’d just go home, if I were you.

If they never check, then whatever - they’ll not know.

If they do happen to check, you had a migraine/heat exhaustion/felt ill and went to WFH.

What is your job that means they have a policy where management never needs to come in but you do three times a week?

Start looking for another job.

There's two issues here.

You can't work because you're too tired. If you're unfit to work, you call in sick.

You want someone to talk to. Not really works problem. I know it's nice to have company but you are actually there to work.

Surely you can take a fan in and maybe mput some music on your phone etc

How are they going to know if you go home and carry on working from there for the afternoon?

If management aren't in themselves, how can they expect their teams to do something they aren't doing themselves?

I'd approach it from a position where you can say that you're more productive and your work output is better when you're working from home, fewer disturbances etc. and that for the next 8 weeks, 2 days in the office would be the maximum you'd be considering as acceptable (checking the post etc.) and when things pick up again, you'll be able to go back into the office more frequently.
This would show that you're not unwilling to go into the office but that you're working better from home and that you're open to going on a more frequent basis when the time is right and the workload is busier.

Just one suggestion

I get you! All this talk of getting back in the office for the buzz, but there is no one there! I work in a department of about 20 but only 5 of us have to come in regularly to man our office, which would be OK but it's quite lonely. We are lucky to be in pairs but my colleague is a difference office. Even if you see someone else they have just popped in for 5 mins to get their post or something. There are some colleagues I haven't seen since pre-covid.

We have the hybrid working at my company. Some days I'm in its just me and one other. I actually really like it as its so peaceful and I can power through without distractions.

Are your in office days flexible as I move mine around to suit whether I want to see people or not see people. If they are flexible can you chnage your in office days to busier days?

I'm often in the office on my own, we have to do 2 days a week.

I pop my music on and have a sing song whilst doing my work. I go out for a leisurely lunch hour and make sure I do a walk that gets my heart rate up.

I always make sure I have saved myself a decent amount of work for office days as nothing to do in the office is way worse than nothing to do at home.

I feel your pain. After over two years of WFH, management have now decided we ‘need to be seen to be in’ at least one day a week. I asked my manager why there had been this sudden shift. It turns out that the person who managed the return to office process proudly boasted to the board that approximately 90% of people were regularly using the office. (I doubt it’s even half that.) Then one day a very senior person unexpectedly came over from Europe, came into the office and saw there was actually about four people and a cat mug there.

Instead of holding her hands up and admitting the push to get people back in wasn’t working, very embarrassed office manager has now kicked up a fuss to get more people in. I’m paying to commute because she has egg on her face.

I just left my last job after 11 years partly because of the same ridiculous rule meaning I’m driving miles to another town (they also relocated) to sit by myself and do the same job I’d be doing from home. Only it was only my role that had to do this just incase one of the other 4 members of staff wanted to pop in. They never did and all said they wouldn’t! Ridiculous.

Does your company have a menopause policy? They should be able to make changes to your ways of working to accommodate you. I've wfh so can have lunchtime nap & can on. Menopause is medical.

Plus your managers are complete idiots

I bet your day is dragging

Tell them you dont feel safe alone.

What if you had a seizure or a stroke or heart attack! Nobody would know! You could choke on a crisp with nobody to help

Or you can use the those two magic words that everyone uses to get out of doing stuff they dont want to do: mental health. It's not good for your mental health to work alone al day

You're still being paid even though you don't fancy being told where you have to work. Do your job.

I love it when this happens! But you don't so sorry, that's rubbish. We're in a minimum of 2 days a week. It's better than full time wfh because for example yesterday I ended up having a productive convo with someone from another team just because we happened to be in at same time. Last Thursday I was the only one in, got loads done with less distraction than either wfh or when others are in.

Was there this much whinging about working in the office pre-pandemic?

Did everybody really think that the measures introduced to ensure a lockdown / to contain an out of control pandemic would last for ever?

Fortunately, for many people, these things have improved things with more hybrid working. But there are plenty of people who have to go to work every day, because that is what the employer expects or how the job gets done. Instead of complaining about it, perhaps people should embrace the fact that they now have more flexibility than they previously had, and not look gift horses in the mouth?

And for those suggesting the OP simply leaves - well yes, if they wish to be dismissed that would be a good choice, but on the plus side they wouldn't have to go to the office any more.

And I love the argument that working alone (in the office) is bad for ones mental health when working alone (at home) isn't! But it really is pretty offensive to lie about mental health problems when there are people who really do have such issues. Does anyone think that employers are so dim that they haven't realised that this is fast becoming the new "bad back", and nobody is believed anymore?

Why don't you question this with HR.

Why are you expected to come in if others don't have to follow the same rules?

There should be a rota if they want to always have a couple of people in the office for security reasons. Everyone in the organisation should be part of that rota, including management. The hybrid working policy should be the same for everyone...

If you have health issues (physical and mental) make a request for reasonable adjustment and ask to work from home more often.

I just left a job because they insisted we return in the office for more than one day a week (I worked 3 days for them). It is a tiny, cramped office with rubbish IT facilities and only one meeting room so it is a dreadful environment if everyone is back in.

We had entire teams go off sick with Covid and the Norovirus as soon as the policy of asking people to return to the office was put back in because social distancing is impossible in that office and there is no proper ventilation.

So I quit.

My long term health and well-being is more important than the job and I was planning to leave anyway. I already have a long term condition and I have managed to avoid Covid so far and I did not want to catch it simply because of a poor office environment...

@Jalisco - "Was there this much whinging about working in the office pre-pandemic?"

I know I hated the commute so I would say I whinged about having to come into the office pre-pandemic. In fairness though, that isn't relevant here.

Situations change. Office working conditions have changed and management are either reluctant or refusing to accommodate these changes. People change too.
They could say to staff that they need only be physically in the office one day per week (unless there is a team meeting scheduled or meeting customers is a requirement) and that is up to the staff member to sort out with their team mates. Or allocate a day per week or even 2 days per week where attendance in the office is required. However, they should also be showing up in the office if they are the ones mandating this.

To me it smacks a bit of Boris saying "Don't meet up in groups during lockdown" and then throwing a garden party or booze up in the office with groups of more than 6 people.

Haha bit jealous there of people working at home @Jalisco

i work from home 3 days a week and go in 1 day

the days I’m home my husband and I both work at home - we get to go for a walk together some lunch times or I pop to the gym and we can have a nice lunch together !
We get to have breakfast with our baby daughter and she doesn’t need to go to nursery until just before 9! I can collect her at 4.30 instead of 6 like I have to if I’m in the office!

we all get to have dinner together and we are both home most days to do bath and bedtime

this is way better for my mental health then being at the office all the time - dropping daughter in at 8 and collecting at 6 then rushing home as she goes ti bed at 7 so we never see her.

that’s not the life I’d like so yes I’d get a different job if my employer was forcing the office on me.

@Jalisco if working in the office is not an issue and like working form home, why is that NO managers are in the office then?
How is it that NO ONE ELSE bar the OP is in the office?

Im not discussing whether wfh is a due nowadays or whatever. But rather why is it that there is a system where one person is ending up in an office in their own after the whole of the staff has been told to work in the office 3 days out of 5. And yes I’m including the managers in there too. I mean if the work needs people to be in the office, then surely they should be there too right?